Baby walker



ypril 29, l1924'.

A 3,492,2@2 J. l. CARROLL BABY WALKER l Filed AprilA s. 19.?0l

i ATo all whom #may oon-cem:v

v)Pfateirited tpr. 259?, l

narranY 'strass 4 insana,

Ferca reruns i. ceanonnonlfc'incinnnri, omo.

. -MBABY WALKER.-

' 'application ined April 3,

v Be it known that l, JAMES eitlzen of the United States, residing at Cin.- c1nnat1 ,in the county ofHa'niltona-nd State `of Qhio, .havefinventedcertain .new anduse -ful vImprovements 'inflabyy Walkers," of

which thefollowing' is a specification. y

My invention'relates to. improvements i1.;

' vdevices .fo'rv the Careof very young children;

its obgects, bein'gtoprovide an attractive,and-4 amusingmeans for yassisting the child to learn to walk, venablinga -desirable freedom of movement ofthe child from place to p'l'ace lwhile safely supporting the child without undue hindrance of its movements 'A- further object is'to make such a device as inex- .pensive'as possible while meeting the stated I 'requirements` @ther objects willappear in .i the course ofthe `ensuing' description.

I attain'these objects bythe device illusf trated, :for example, in the accompanying drawing, in which#- p Figure 1 is a perspective view of the de- A vice-in use;

`-Fig. 5 1s a front elevation of the device;

'and

. Figf is a perspective view, corresponding to Fig. 2, but showing the device modified in certain parts.

As I prefer to construct my invention, it comprises a bed 1 of flat elongated shape with a wide major rear part forming the seat 2 and a wide minor front part forming a bolster support 3, with an intermediate narrower connecting part 4, into which the seat 2 and ybolster support 3 merge in smoothly curved edges. Also, preferably, the corners of the seat 2 at the rear and the corners of the part 3 at the front are suitably rounded.

The rear bolster 5 has its bottom straight and its middle part has a iiat top againstthe bottom of the bed l close to the rear end of the latter, secured thereto by screws 6 passed down from the top of the bed. From this fiat top, the bolster 5 curves down to thinner end parts 7 An axle 8 is nailed to the Hat bottom of the bolster 5, with its ends 9 pro 1920?, seal no.. einem..

f l' 'gected past the respective ends of the bolster, l.. CARRoLi., Va

and'rear wheels 10 turn y.loosely on these projections, held thereon by pins'11 through openings inthe project-ins.

v' Theiront bolster 12v has its top wideandl '.llat', against the bottom of 'the part 3 of the bed. 1,- a short distance back from the front end 'of the latter,secured thereto by' screws 13l passedfdown from lthe top of the bed. This'front bolster, or pedestal, 12`,has its lateral ends converged downward, leaving a narrow bottom; anda bore 14, up into 'the bolster or pedestal, receives the socket 15 in which is held the caster 16 bythe stem of the latter extending up into the socket and having the stem-head 17 engaging above the upper end of the socket by virtue of resili-v f ency of the socket material, as with any suitable Well known furniture caster. Also,

preferably, this caster 16 has ball-bearings v 18, such casters being .readily obtainable on the market.

The converged lateral ends. of the bolster or pedestal 12 have bores in which tightly lit outriggers 19, each composed of a round strip such as an ordinary dowel rod, and 'inclining downwardly and laterally outwardly to about the front-to-rear line of the respective rear wheel 10 (Fig. 5,) and each outrigger 19-preferably has its vlower end 2O beveled to be about parallel with the floor or other level surface on which the vehicle rests. Moreover, these lower ends 20 are short distances up from that surface, as shown.

In the modification -of Fig. 6, instead of` the bolster or pedestal 12 with its outriggers .19, there is a front bolster 12 with wheels 10', like the rear bolster 5 and wheels `A10; the bolster 12 being screwed to the bed by the screws 13, the same as the bolster or pedestal 12 in the preferred example. An-

other variation here shown is the skein 8 ,m0

for each front or rear wheel'lO' or 10, inte,- gral with the respective bolster 12 or 5", with a shoulder 7 between which and the pin 11 the wheel is held to turn loosely.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive, the superstructure comprises front and rear posts 21 and 22, rectangular in cross-section except near their lower ends, where they have integral rounded shanks 23 and 24 respectively. The bed 1 has a bore 25 near the Jforward end of the narrower connecting part Il, in the middle of the bed; and has another bore 26 just forwardly of the rear bolster 5 in median alinement with the ro-nt bore 25. The front and rear posts 21 and 22 have their shanks 23' and 24 extending down through the rbores 25 and 26, respec-l tively, with pins 27 through them where they project below the bottom of the bed 1, holdin the-posts firmly with the shoulders 23 an 211 ofthe Aposts A2l and 2 2, respectively, resting firmly .down against the top surface of the bed 1. A ring 2 8, preferably of' heavy wire welded or soldered at its ends j to make the ring smooth and continuous, passes through-transverse openings 29 and .30 through the respective posts 21 and 22 near their tops.

In the modification of Fig. 6, the posts 21 and 22"are iitted to the bed as in the preferred example; but instead of the u'p-h per openings 29 and 30, with the ring, 28 therein, two straps 31,. of leather or webbing, or other suitable fieXible but strongA material, are riveted together at both ends,

' withample lengths of their end parts mi:-

' tually overlapping, and with intermediate stretches 32left unriveted and separatedl and receiving between .the separated stretches 32 the upper end parts of the lre-` spective posts 21 and 22', to which the stretches 32 are tacked orv nailed.

The support made up of the lposts and ring, or otherwise constructed to encircle the childs body above its waist line while the childis seated astraddle of the narrower bed part 4. uponthe wider bed part ,2, confines the child to the device; yet as this is the only encircling means, there is rio hampering of the legs and arms, and no hindrance to close approach of the infant,

vwith the device, to objects that 'may attract its attention. This contributes better to the childs amusement than a device having much laterally extended structure lower down, as in various baby walkers heretofore disclosed.

In either example, the device may be partially disassembled by removing the posts 21 and 22 or 2l and 22' from the bores 25 and 26; and then these posts may be folded toward .each other across the encircling element 28 or 31. The other part of the device, inverted in af suitable box, carton,

wrapper or other suitable container A, in

dicated by the dotted lines in Fig; 3, may receive the fiat folded superstructure on the bottom of the bed 1 between the rear and front bolst'ers. l

Modifications of materials'or of details .other than herein disclosed are possible.

Therefore, I do not wish to be'un'derstood Vas being limited to such precise showing and description, but having thu's'fully described my invention,

What I claim as new and desire to se-` cure by Letters Patent is:

1. 'In ababy walker, a structure comprisinga seat entirely open at its sides, and a body-support to flank the body oi a child,A

exclusively above the childs waist-line and ,closely enough to prevent escape of the 'child at either open sidel of said seat, when seated onv said seat astraddle of said strucgture, and rolling means supporting said structure for propulsion of the device by contact'of the childs feet with a surface, supporting said rolling means.

'2. In a baby walker, a rear rolling support, a front rollinglr support, a. rigid element rigidly connecting' said supports along ing confined close to the front-to-rear center line of said device. for ease of guiding the device, andextensions at opposite sides of said structure to engage said surface forwardly of the rearmost limit of said front. rolling means, upon tilting of the device toward the respective sid e JAMES I. CARROLL. 

